The best thing about the Chicago Jazz Festival is that it’s curated by an independent committee of people (mostly from the Jazz Institute of Chicago) who really love music, rather than being overly influenced by promoters, booking agents and managers representing a few big name artists who are trying to fill blank dates during their […]
Archives for 2008
Sonny Rollins in Chicago
Sonny Rollins at 78 is still a saxophone collosus, as he demonstrated leading his touring sextet Thursday night to open the Chicago Jazz Festival. His bent posture, shock of white hair and strong features give him the air of an Old Testament prophet, and his stamina may not be all it was when he was […]
Chicago jazz fest in neighborhood clubs
A city’s jazz scene is best measured not by an annual festival — though Sonny Rollins free at the Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavillion in Chicago’s Millennium Park on Thursday night was a fine thing. The real signs of Chicago’s jazz depth and diversity are evident in the unique “club tour” (aka pub crawl), which the […]
World Music redefined by blogs
World Music, a phrase that literally should include all cultures’ sounds but as a genre has become narrowed, softened and commercialized, is being re-invigorated by a new cadre of bloggers with interests in adventure and discovery as well as analytic study, according to Ross Simoninini in the Village Voice Aug 20 – 26 issue. At […]
Jazz fests of August
Free jazz fests across the U.S. mark summer’s glorious end. Manhattan’s Charlie Parker festival (held Saturday Aug. 23 and Sunday 24 in Marcus Garvey park uptown and Tompkins Square Park downtown), the Chicago Jazz Festival (which formally starts Thursday Aug 28 with Sonny Rollins at downtown Grant Park’s Petrillo bandshell) and the Detroit International Jazz […]
Pandora radio on deathbed?
The wonderful web radio giant Pandora.com — and lesser web radio sites, too — are reportedly about to be done in by per-song performance royalty rates doubled last year by a federal panel. Pandora’s founder says he’ll have to shut it down soon if the terms can’t be changed. Read the whole story in the […]
New beyond-jazz in NYC clubs
Alto saxophonist Greg Osby debuted a sextet with vocalist, electric guitar and vibes at the Village Vanguard, and pianist Lafayette Gilchrist brought an unusually horn-heavy band from Baltimore into (Le) Poisson Rouge, opening for guitarist Vernon Reid‘s rockin’, scratchin’ Yohimbe Brothers. Is this the shape of jazz to come?
Sony owns America’s music
What’s it mean that the back catalogs of record companies documenting 100 years of American music are now wholly owned by the Japanese Sony Corporation, which has bought out Bertelsmann, its German partner in the four-year-old behemoth music corporation Sony BMG? Â
Giants on earth
Johnny Griffin, tenor saxophonist, b. Chicago 4-24-28, d. at his home in the French countryside, Â 7–27-08 — such bare facts don’t say much about the music this man could wring from his instrument, back when jazz giants entertained the earth. From his pro emergence at age 15 in 1945 well past the mid ’60s, when […]
Odd noise music alert, Brooklyn
A concert sponsored by The Onion — so expect to be amused, Wednesday July 30, starting at 6:30 pm, free in a tent by the Brooklyn waterfront:Â John Zorn’s “Cobra” — an intricate musical game performed best by quick-witted improvisers with a handle of tactics governing the Avalon Hill board wargames of the ’60s — […]
Hear here! BBC jazz awards show online ’til July 30
P.S. to yesterday’s musings re the BBC Jazz Awards: the Guardian’s blog posting on the Awards show (which featured performances by Return to Forever, Tommy Smith, singer Ian Shaw and Jeff Beck with Jamie Cullum and Kyle Eastwoood jamming on “Let The Good Times Roll”, plus presentations by Sir George Martin, among others) mentions that […]
BBC honors Return to Forever and UK homies
An international wrinkle on jazz awards: The British Broadcasting Company on Monday night announced 11 winners of the BBC Jazz Awards, Reunited fusion quartet Return to Forever won for “lifetime achievement,” bassist Charlie Haden received the “international award,” Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine were given the “gold award.” But who are these other […]
iPhone + Pandora = open sesame
According to Slate (formerly, Salon’s) tech writer Farhad Manjoo, reviewing the iPhone makeover and cool third-party programs that optomize its potential, the expense and hassle of securing the new device is worthwhile if only for mobile access to Pandora.com. The personally-programmed radio site has captivated me, too — Pandora’s Music Genome Project reliably streams known and unknown music I like — jazz-beyond-jazz — on […]